I have the first few seasons of "Have Gun Will Travel" on DVD and I'm working my way through, trying to watch only a couple at a time so that I don't get them all watched up too soon.

Last night, in season two, there is an episode called, "Duel at Florence". Paladin needs to borrow a rifle, so he borrows one from an old-timer (those guys are looking progressively less old, but that's a different topic). The gun he borrows and uses in the ensuing gunfight was a Winchester 1876 carbine. Someone with more knowledge could probably identify the caliber since he is seen loading it and ejecting rounds. At one point, when he needs to jump between rooftops, the '76 magically becomes a '92 when he does the jump, then changes back into a '76, but most of the time it remains the same model.

It was pretty cool. He usually just uses his 7 1/2" Colt, but I liked his pick when he needed a rifle.

I tried to find the episode on YouTube so that I could link it here, but I can't find it. As I said, it was season two, and I think it was episode 5, in case someone else does a better job tracking it down.

In some episodes, he pulls a Marlin out of the scabbard, with a silver chess Knight on the stock .

I haven't gotten to those episodes yet. I've seen random episodes over the years, but I've enjoyed working my way through these sets. He also used a different derringer in the first episodes (I can't remember the model off the top of my head), but pretty quickly switched to a Remington.

Well, yes, when I appreciated Paladin's "choice" of guns, it was only the character's "choice". I know that they liked to sometimes tie unusual guns to specific characters, even when the guns would be of little actual value (Josh Randall's cut-down '92 with 45-70 rounds in his belt comes to mind).

I still think that the choice of the '76 carbine was an interesting one.

I often shudder to think of the treasures abused to the point of destruction during the production of movies and TV shows over the years.

CC Griff

Clayton Moore stated in his book "I Was That Masked Man" that he had two sets of guns, the ones he wore and used, and another set for throwing on the ground when captured or at the risk of being damaged or marred.